Friday, 13 January 2017

[REVIEW] The Phoenix Barony

The Phoenix
Barony

by David Bezio

Self-published

The Phoenix Barony

Setting books come in all shapes
and sizes. Some are grandiose treatises shooting for that “big old tome sitting on a forgotten bookshelf” feel, while on the
other side of the scale, we have humble, pamphlet-sized gazetteers like The
Phoenix Barony. It is, to quote the introduction of the recently released 2nd
edition, “hopelessly traditional vanilla favoured
fantasy” that “takes a more
lighthearted view”, and “draws its
inspiration from cartoons, comic books, some fantasy literature, and the early
RPGs that inspired [the author’s] style of play”. This is a worthwhile
challenge. Over the years, vanilla fantasy has gained a bad name, bad enough that
the introduction includes this apologia at all. Too often, it has been done
disingenuously or on the cheap, with an intent to cash in on a sudden market demand (TSR
was Suspect #1 in the racket), and the aftertaste lingers. But Phoenix Barony
doesn’t need to be apologised for.

Taking a top-down approach and focusing on the macro-level details, the
26-page booklet describes a little 80 by 80 miles corner of the world, ruled by
fundamentally well-meaning folks but beset by evil forces on the sides, with
some internal conflicts making things difficult. It is a situation where most
have the best intentions, but don’t always manage to get along or do the best thing. Compared
to your usual game world of avarice, murder and double-dealing, it feels
quaint, but also interesting: here are some challenges worthy of a band of
adventurers, but in a place where you just can't kill your problems. Of course, it is also a great place for venturing out into the
wilds to fight evil and discover precious artefacts – through the booklet,
there is a sidebar describing scenes from one such adventure with a typical
band of do-gooders. This piece of detail is neat; it lends Phoenix Barony a
voice that’s comfy and well-meaning, and it provides a ready illustration and
commentary for the gazetteer’s different sections. An understated piece of
graphic design in the service of a supplement, and it works like a charm, just
like the illustrations peppered throughout – for lack of a better word, these are mostly cute in a good sense.

Pretty pretty!

The different sections give you the background pieces you need to get
acquainted with this little piece of land. It has a history of heroism and
lingering evil, a dualistic mythology between good god Irnoch and bad god
Vulcoo, its politics run by a bunch of high-level characters, and basic
organisations like Irnoch’s Templars, the wizard’s guild (the Order of
Sunderia), or the Totally Not Thieves. It is an adventurer-centric worldview,
what with everything being neatly organised along class divisions (the D&D
kind). It mostly works, but sometimes, it goes a bit too far – the six major
towns are basically Rangertown, Elftown, Halflingtown, Dwarftown, Human City
and Merchant Town (with Totally Not Thieves), and that grates a bit. And yet
there are also cool details like the Ale Shepherds of Aleton (halflings who
ride ale barrels down the river to Goblin Head Lake, personal friendship
between various rulers, a succession problem or two, and of course Geltrod the Vermin
Lord, ruler of Geltsberg with its “200
foot tall iron walls covered with bolts, spikes, the webs of giant spiders, and
the skeletal remains of victims chained to the exterior” (because that’s just
how Geltrod rolls). Then there is a description for Thathor, “a good base town” (the one with the
Totally Not Thieves), and a bunch of legends to get you started. That’s really
all you need – The Phoenix Barony doesn’t strive to be exhaustive, and has
enough space and gaps to fill things out with your own ideas.

To conclude, The Phoenix Barony
does a fine job with what it sets out to do. It is earnest and has a genuine
old-school charm. I like the names – it is chock full of excellent, expressive
yet iconic-feeling names like Frunder’s Rest, Lady Gloral of Deledon,
Archbishop Horace, and Goblin Head Lake. If you want a mini-setting with a
positive outlook and an “adventurer fantasy” aesthetic, interesting conflicts
and just enough detail to provide a framework for your adventures, this is a
good bet.